Matters of Life and Death

While many things remain constant here at Brunnenburg, others are changing every second! Last Tuesday during workday, I was heading down one of the hills to check on the group that I was leading. On my way down, I decided to check on Grisa, a goat who had been pregnant for what seemed like forever. I had checked on her every day, hoping that "today would be the day!" To put it plainly, Tuesday was the day, and the moment I checked on her was the actual moment. I saw it all!

Grisa had two baby boys. Kelsey named one Galileo, and I named the other Gus (after a Paul Simon song that Kelsey, Nik, and I are always singing. Simon sings, "hop on the bus, Gus!").

Just moments after giving birth, Grisa took her time cleaning off her two kids!

A few days after giving birth, Gus and Galileo are now super fuzzy and adorable!

Galileo relaxing in Kelsey's lap.

While life is just beginning for these guys, this is not always the case on a functioning agricultural operation. On Thursday, Bella, a pig who has lived here for several years, was slaughtered and given to friends of the family. Bella had stopped giving birth to healthy pigs, and it was no longer feasible to keep her. The event was extremely intense for me, having been a vegetarian for ten years and a Jew for twenty-one years, but it is essential to recognize that Bella lived an extraordinarily happy life that consisted of lots of space to run around, a seemingly endless supply of raw noodles, daily massages from Kelsey, Brigitte, and I, and tons of delicious food scraps from the family and students!

Lastly, there are flowers everywhere! It seems that I wake up every morning to new colors outside my window. With the increased amount of sunlight comes an increased amount of time to work outside!